from the Greek μίσχος 'stalk' + κύτταρος 'cell of a honeycomb' => 'stalked honeycomb' (the nest Saussure described was suspended from a slender stalk)
Numbers
3 spp. in our area, all in the subgenus Phi; the largest genus of social wasps, with nearly 250 described spp.(1) • US records of M. phthisicus refer to M. mexicanus cubicola(2)
Identification
meso- & metatarsomeres 3 & 4 strongly asymmetrical. First gastric segment narrowed into an elongate petiole.